The Annual Banquet of the Gravediggers' Guild

David Mazon, an anthropology student, moves to La Pierre-Saint-Christophe, a village in the marshlands of western France, to research his thesis on contemporary agrarian life. Unbeknownst to him, Death leads the dance in these lands, and once a year, during a three-day feast, gravediggers observe a temporary truce. The Annual Banquet of the Gravediggers Guild is a riotous novel that explores the boundaries between past and present, against a Rabelaisian backdrop of excess and a macabre paean to life's richness.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 496 pages
Publication date: 04 October 2023
Publisher: Fitzcarraldo Editions

Anthropology student David Mazon relocates to La Pierre-Saint-Christophe, a village in the marshlands of western France, to conduct research for his thesis on contemporary agrarian life. Driven by a desire to capture the essence of rural life, the intrepid scholar embarks on a journey on his moped, conducting interviews with local residents. However, little does he know that in these seemingly ordinary lands, once the stages of wars and revolutions, Death holds dominion. When an existence comes to an end, the Wheel of Life reuses its soul and reintroduces it into the world as a microbe, human, or wild animal, sometimes in the past, sometimes in the future.

A remarkable aspect of this cycle is the annual truce observed between Death and the living. During a colossal three-day feast, known as the Annual Banquet of the Gravediggers Guild, gravediggers indulge in an abundance of food, drinks, and language. This feast serves as a temporary respite from the eternal struggle between life and death. Written with Mathias Enard's characteristic wit and encyclopedic brilliance, The Annual Banquet of the Gravediggers Guild is a riotous novel that blurs the boundaries between past and present against a backdrop of excess and a paradoxically macabre celebration of life's richness.

Weight: 476g
Dimension: 128 x 198 x 33 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781804270592